Holidays Calendar for October 23, 2016

Commemoration of the Paris Peace Agreements of 1991, also known as Paris Peace Agreements Day, is a Cambodian public holiday observed on October 23. It celebrates the official end of the Cambodian-Vietnamese War.

Chulalongkorn Day is a Thai public holiday celebrated on October 23. It commemorates the death anniversary of King Rama V, who is considered to be one of the most outstanding monarchs of Siam (former name of Thailand).

Day of the Macedonian Revolutionary Struggle is a public holiday in the Republic of Macedonia celebrated on October 23. It commemorates the establishment of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) in 1893.

Brazilian Aviator's Day is celebrated on October 23. It commemorates the first official flight of Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian aviation pioneer. In Brazil, Santos-Dumont is regarded as the “father of flight” and considered a national hero.

Mole Day is an informal holiday celebrated by chemists, chemistry students, and chemistry enthusiasts. The celebration is dedicated to a unit of measurement that expresses amounts of a chemical substance.

This Day in History

2011Died: Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician, known for pioneering and development of mathematical method, that has changed the whole field of chemistry and opened a new era in research of molecular structures of crystallized materials. His work brought him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1985.

2011A powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake stroke Turkey near the city of Van. Over 600 were killed and thousands injured.

2002The Chechen terrorists seized the Dubrovka Theater in Moscow during the performance of Nord-Ost. 850 hostages were taken in order to demand the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechenya and end the Second Chechen War. At the end of the seizure about 130 hostages died.

1997Died: Bert Haanstra, Dutch director, known for his documentaries. His most famous works are Glass, Fanfare and Turkish Delight.

1986Died: Edward Adelbert Doisy, American biochemist, known as one of the discoverers of vitamin K. This work brought him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1943.

1983241 U.S. military personnel were killed by a truck bomb, that hit the U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut. The French army barracks were also attacked on the same morning in Lebanon, 58 officers were killed.

1972A U.S. bombing campaign Operation Linebacker against North Vietnam ended after five months. The operation became the first continuous bombing effort conducted against North Vietnam since 1968.

1970Gary Gabelich set a land speed record in a rocket-powered automobile called the Blue Flame, fueled with natural gas. The vehicle set record for the flying mile at 622.407 mph and flying kilometer at 1,041.541 km/h. His record was broken in 1983 by Richard Noble driving his turbojet-powered Thrust2.

1964Born: Robert Trujillo, American musician, the bassist of heavy metal bands Metallica and Black Sabbath.

1959Born: Sam Raimi, American director, producer, actor, best known for directing the cult horror comedy Evil Dead series, film Darkman and Spider-Man trilogy.

1958The Smurfs appeared for the first time in the story La flute à six schtroumpfs, an adventure story by Peyo that was serialized in the weekly Spirou magazine.

1957Died: Christian Dior, French fashion designer, the fonder of one of the worlds top fashion houses. His death attracted much attention and still the circumstances are not known. Some say, he had a heart attack after playing a game of cards, other state, that he choked on a fish bone and had a heart attack, while the contemporary rumors stated that he had the heart attack due to strenuous sexual encounter.

1957Born: Paul Kagame, Rwandan politician, the 6th President of Rwanda. His Rwandian Patriotic Front played a crucial role in ending of genocide in Rwanda.

1944Died: Charles Glover Barkla, British physicist. In 1917 he won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in X-ray spectoscpoy and related areas.

1944Imperial Japan started naval actions against the United States and Australia near the Philippine islands of Leyte, Samar and Luzon. The Battle of Leyte Gulf lasted for 3 days and it's considered to be the largest naval operation of World War II and, by some criteria, possibly the largest naval battle in history.

1942Born: Anita Roddick, British businesswoman and activist, founder of The Body Shop, a cosmetics company producing and retailing natural beauty products. Her company was among the first to prohibit the use of animal tested products and promote fair trade with third world countries.

1940Born: Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé, Brazilian footballer, widely regarded to be the greatest player of all time. In 1999 he became World Player of the Century and Time named him in the list of 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

1920Born: Gianni Rodari, Italian writer, famous for his children's books, including Cipollino. Many consider him as Italy's most important children's author of the 20th century.

1915Estimated 33,000 women marched on Fifth Avenue in New York City to advocate their right to vote.

1908Born: Ilya Frank, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for his work in expanding the phenomenon of Cherenkov radiation.

1905Born: Felix Bloch, Swiss physicist. He is known for development of new ways and methods for nuclear magnetic precision measurements. This work brought him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1952.

1885Born: Lawren Harris, Canadian painter, the member of the Group of Seven. The Group pioneered a distinctly Canadian painting style in the early 20th century.

1875Born: Gilbert N. Lewis, American chemist, known for his discovery of the covalent bond and his concept of electron pairs. He successfully contributed to thermodynamics, photochemistry, and isotope separation, and is also known for his concept of acids and bases.

1812A French general Claude François de Malet began a conspiracy to overthrown Napoleon Bonaparte. He claimed that the Emperor had died in Russia and that he was the commandant of Paris.

1707The Parliament of Great Britain met for the first time after its establishment. The first Speaker of the House of Commons of Great Britain was elected.

1688Died: Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, French philologist and historian, known as one of the founding fathers of Byzantine studies in Europe.

1581Died: Michael Neander, German mathematician and astronomer, known for his contributions to astronomy. One of the Moon craters, Neander, is named after him.

1550Died: Tiedemann Giese, Polish bishop, known as a close friend of Nicolaus Copernicus. Together with Copernicus he wrote the letter to the Polish King Sigismund I the Old asking for the King's protection of Prussia against the Teutonic Knights.

1456Died: John of Capistrano, Italian priest and saint. He earned himself the nickname the Soldier Saint when he led a crusade against the invading Ottoman Empire in 1456. He was 70 at that time.